


Dark Current

by Tlern467



Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:01:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27721817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tlern467/pseuds/Tlern467
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	Dark Current

Dark Current 

Fairbanks was no Jedi, but even she got a shiver of dread and cold as her ship came close to the strange structure.  
“Lieutenant,” Elara drawled on comms. “Republic intelligence has no useful reconnaissance on the inside of the structure, other than two galactic standard weeks ago a light Republic convoy has been unaccounted for in this approximate vector. I advise extreme caution.” 

Alric paced anxiously by the holo terminal as he read the data entries.  
“Something the matter Alric?” Fairbanks said. He stopped and looked up from his work. “No...well, yes and no. Might give us some answers but-this shouldn’t exist. Deadeyes went into a structure like this in this part of space. We were many things, but we rarely half assed an assignment.” 

“Nk 22, prepare a distress signal. We’re going in.”  
“Yes sir. Be safe sir.”  
“Elara, Mk 11, you’re with me. Bringing in to dock.” 

The feeling of cold only intensified the closer the ship got to docking range. Like icicles crawling slowly up her spine. The structure stayed silent, dormant as the ship approached. It was not the silence of desertion of abandonment but rather a deep slumber. Something was definitely still there 

The ship docked and the three soldiers emerged into the depths of the structure. Lights flickered in a standard standby protocol. Fairbanks signaled them ahead. The only sound in the crisp artificial atmosphere were their hollow footfalls on the durasteel, plastiform walkways. Nothing moved in the dim half light 

Whatever this structure had been, it was ancient, massive and just on the edge of tangible knowledge. Was this an artifact of the Infinite Empire or something else entirely? 

They emerged into a wide room that could best be described as an amphitheater. But even that description wasn’t apt. It was for spectacle and performance but also savagery and cruelty. There were grooves cut into the floors of each level of the amphitheater, almost like...  
“Almost like these were made for ritual sacrifice,” Elara whispered.  
The cold at the base of her spine warned her not to linger here. Whatever was still here was just beginning to stir.  
“We gotta keep moving,” she whispered. Elara uneasily nodded.  
The presence was slowly waking up. It was hard to describe what it was exactly-other than it was dark and hungry.  
Hieroglyphs glowed periodically on the walls. Maybe remnants of the Infinite Empire? 

Then the sounds began-first a low humming, then a mechanized clanking.  
“Lieutenant,” Mk 11 warned.  
Humanoid creatures shambled toward them. Twileks, zabraks, humans, miralaak, cyborgs. They were hideously malformed, half machine half organic.  
“For the Forebears, for the Forebears,” they chanted in a dead pan drone.  
“Assimilate. Assssimilllate.”  
“This doesn’t look good Lieutenant.”  
“Asssimilatte,” they droned and inches closer and closer.  
“Orders Lieutenant!?”  
“Open fire!”  
“Assimillaaate!”  
The humanoids launched toward them, just as the blaster fire started.  
Fairbanks threw down her riot shield and her fortification program.  
“Nice and tight nice and tight together,” Fairbanks said.  
Where there was a smattering, suddenly there was a horde. Included in the horde were the sacrificed ancestors of what might have been the Ithorians.  
The plasma riot shield crisped any mechanical or organic tissue that got too close. The smell of lasers burning artificial ozone. The sulfur of superheated mechanicals. The coppery tang of blood from ritual sacrifices repeated ad infinitum. 

Finally the tortured whine of the horde stilled and the three squad mates were left alone and alive.  
Fairbanks felt the sweat drench the fabric of her under armor. Elara shimmered with a lather of sweat herself. 

Once Fairbanks caught her breath, she motioned the team onward. This time, the structure was not full of hungry dormant silence. Just the hum of archaic machinery, the flickering of indecipherable language and whispers just on the edge of hearing. 

The hungry, dark presence was closer and closer. Evil was too simplistic a label. Yes it was, but that was only part of what it was. 

They reached what Fairbanks could only assume was the central works. An intelligent presence was on the other side of the door. Along with the dark hungry thing. But also their answers. 

“Be ready,” Fairbanks said. She pressed the hold door console and waited for the tell tale hiss.

The three stepped inside. What greeted them was a contradiction of the unknowable and the known. It was bathed in a gentle blue light but also the harsh red yellow of the dark side. 

The hulking monstrosity was the dark hungry thing-but like everything else in the room was a mix of known and unknown. Parts of it seemed to be congealed shadow, but other parts of it were recognizably reptilian, possibly Tradoshian even. Mismatched eyes stared at her like the creature was attempting to pierce her soul. The left eye was the baleful yellow of a dark side user, the right a more mellow green seen on the more even tempered Tradoshians she had ever met. Even it’s hungry growl was a terrible mixture of pure malice and hatred and the victory shout of a triumphant Tradoshian hunting party praising their goddess of the hunt the Scorekeeper.  
Next to the creature was a blind folded porcelain skinned feminine force user.  
“I see you, Fairbanks Tel’Atha,” the woman said in a sing song voice. “The Force swells in you. Interesting. I have not seen many like you.”  
“She’s a Miralan,” Elara said quietly. “Be careful Lieutenant.”  
“Ah,” the woman said with just the cruelest hint of a smile. “Our protege defector. The Emperor himself took notice of someone of your talents aiding the enemy. There is still time,” she said. “Help me put down this thorn in the Emperor’s side and return with me and he will forgive your...indiscretions.”  
“Return to the Empire? You’ve got to be joking. The answers no, my family’s here. With Havok Squad,” Elara emphasized.  
“Very well,” the Miralan said.”then die traitor. Kill them, my pet. For the Glory of the Empire!”  
She vanished in a shimmering pool of red light.  
The creature snarled in tortured rage.  
“Nono, no want kill small big Hunter Fairbanks. Big pain brands tell me must. Vraskk sorry.”  
“Oh no...” Fairbanks involuntarily said aloud. So, that was where her Tradoshian friend had disappeared to.  
“Vraskk sorry. Vraskk beg-beg you tell Scorekeeper Vraskk fought long battle against mind brands. Many points.”  
“I will, my friend,” she said quietly.  
“Pain brands come back big small Hunter. Vraskk lose self soon. Fight Vraskk with honor yes? Remember Vraskk as Hunter friend with big score?”  
“I will,” Fairbanks said.  
Vraskkk screamed in bestial rage and was gone, lost to the monstrosity that the Empire transformed him into.  
She didn’t remember the battle, only the flames of her anger toward the Empire and her tears as she had to put her dear friend down.  
Vrassk’s misshapen bulk lay dead, his suffering at an end.  
“Self destruct sequence initiated for Forge Borealis. All personnel are encouraged to evacuate in a quick but orderly manner.”  
“Time to go,” Elara said. Lieutenant Fairbanks Tel’Atha nodded hollowly. 

The structure whined and screamed as the self destruct sequence started dismantling distant parts of the structure. But nothing impeded their progress-any staff on base were evacuating. They reached the safety of the ship with explosions thundering behind them.  
“Lets get this ship outta here now!” Elara shouted. “Lieutenant?”  
Fairbanks nodded and hollowly rushed over to the captains chair. She inputted the nav codes to Coruscant by instinct and waited a few tense seconds until the nav computer chimed it found a safe route.  
“Hang onto something!” She yelled, then punched the hyperdrive into gear. Just before hyperspace swallowed everything, the structure gave its last dying groans and gave way to the searing heat.  
Elara put a hand on her shoulder. The two said nothing-there was no need to.  
Then Elara surprised her and wrapped her arms around Fairbanks. The structured officer then broke down into muffled sobs. Fairbanks patted her arms and hummed an old Republic ditty.  
To her surprise, Alric also joined in. Even MX 11 added to the chorus. 

Through night and fog  
We soldier on  
Lonely March and lost sector gone.  
We fight we fight we soldier on  
So those back home  
Can carry on.  
So march so fight,  
Take on the Sith.  
Because to not  
Is all for naught.


End file.
